RING! RING! RING!
The incessant ringing disturbed the creature laying underneath the bundle of covers. A faint green glow lit up the form in a shadow as a similar glow wrapped around the alarm clock, picked it up, and unceremoniously chucked it at the far wall. To the sleepy figure's dismay, the ringing didn't stop.
"Stupid... durable... trash," he muttered as he tossed off his covers with his magic and hovered the alarm clock over to him. The switch to turn off the device was on the back. Turning it off, though, would require him to move from his comfortable position. So with a crunch of breaking glass and the whine of chitin on metal, the alarm clock ended up impaled on the Changeling's horn. Not even bothering to remove the clock, the Changeling begun to fall back into blissful sleep.
If it weren't for the knocking on his door.
"By the hive," he cursed as he dragged himself off the bed. Grumbling, he began to walk to the door before stopping by a mirror and looking into it. Seeing his green left eye and red right eye looking back at him, he sighed before channeling his magic to change. With a green flame, he felt the change happen, a tingling sensation travelling up and down his nervous system. When the flame dispered, a gray unicorn stallion stared back at the Changeling and it took a second for the Changeling to remember that the stallion was him. The red right eye was still prominent, a curse of the trait, but his once green eye was now a vibrant blue. His black hair hugged his head tightly but his tail hung halfway to the floor.
"Onyx! Open up!" somepony cried from the other side of the door, banging a hoof against it.
Grumbling again, the disguised Changeling moved to the door and opened it immediately. The neon pink pegasus on the other side had her hoof raised to knock again. At seeing Onyx at the door, she looked relieved, then confused and finally, amused.
"You know alarm clocks have off buttons, right?" she asked with a giggle as she used her hooves to slide off the clock that was still impaled on Onyx's horn.
"Requires too much effort," replied the unicorn-changeling with a smirk and a shrug as he let the pegasus slide off the clock. When it was off, he took it in his magic, now blue in color, and crushed it in his magical grasp, "Magic is much more efficient."
The pegasus rolled her eyes as she playfully hit the unicorn in the chest with a hoof. As Onyx tossed the ruined clock into the trash bin, he smiled at the pegasus. He cold faintly see the ghostly green tendril that seeped from her to him, her love. He could feel it within him, being broken down by his body to be used as fuel. The love wasn't strong as it was more of a friendly love, but it was enough to feed Onyx like a small meal would be enough to sustain a pony throughout the day.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" she finally asked, her stance becoming serious, hoof tapping in annoyance.
"Maybe work."
"Maybe work?"
"Maybe it was robbed or burnt down. You don't know what happened, Bubble" Onyx explained with a shrug, causing the pegasus to roll her eyes, mostly at Onyx's shortened use of her name: Bubblegum. Onyx knew she detested the name, especially while working, because of the lewd comments she'd receive.
"Get. To. Work," she said, punctuating with word with a jab to his chest. Onyx now rolled his eyes as he floated an assortment of clothes to his person.
"Excuse me," he said before shutting the door on the pegasus. Not a second later, he opened it back up. He was now wearing a red button-up shirt with the top button left undone, a black vest, and a black and red fedora, "Alright, Miss Work, I'll be heading out now."
"Good idea Mister Lazy-"
"-Touchè-"
"-and I gotta head to the precinct, so stay out of trouble."
"I thought today was your day off?" Onyx asked as he walked into the hallway, pulled his door closed and locked it. With it locked and the key in a special pocket in his hat, the two started their way to the elevator that would take them to the ground floor.
"I thought so too but with the increasing number of drunkards causing trouble..." Bubble trailed off with a shrug.
Onyx nodded. He kept up with the news via the radio and knew that alcohol based crime was increasing Equestria-wide. In Los Pegasus, the city the two called home, the broke drunkards had taken over the tunnels beneath the city. Every so often, they'd surface to beg for food and bits. Most gave them food and few gave them bits as it would be quickly spent on booze.
"I don't like it Bubble. It's becoming too dangerous. Even for the police," Onyx finally stated as they exited the elevator on the ground floor.
"I know but I took an oath to this city and Celestia damn me if I don't hold up to it," she replied with passion.
"Yeah," Onyx replied with a chuckle as they exited out into the street. Before he could do anything, he found pink hooves wrapping around him and bringing him into a hug.
"Be careful," she whispered.
"You too," he whispered back before the hug was broken. Onyx stayed to watch Bubble take off into the air and head to the local police station. Sighing, he turned and began to trot down the sidewalk. Down the streets he passed, he could see the tall, extravagent buildings of the Pegasus Strip. The Strip held the city's most famous casinos, bars, and theatres.
Onyx didn't work there. Famous places and hiding Changelings didn't mix. If he did work there, some stalker-if he had one-would discover what he actually was and then he'd be ran out of town by a mob of scared ponies. Onyx stopped and looked around at the ponies passing by.
Giving a sigh, he continued to walk, now fully aware of his disguise. He was aware of how it was an inch taller than his true form and little wider. He was aware of the fur being blown in the light, evening breeze. He felt a loathing for having to disguise himself just to talk to his friends. He felt a loathing for the superstitions of his former hive for they were the reason why he had to hide himself in the first place. The Changelings viewed red eyes as a sign of tyranny and evil that even Changelings feared.
"Superstitious larvae," Onyx murmured, using a Changeling insult with the knowledge that no pony was really paying attention to him. A couple minutes later, the loathing was replaced with anticipation as the disguised Changeling stood outside a small club. The lights were off as the sun was only now beginning to set. Sighing, he walked down the alley next to the club and up to the bouncer guarding the side door.
A thin tendril of green left the bouncer to go straight into the air and disappear from view. Onyx glaced briefly at the tendril, knowing that it came from the bouncer thinking of somepony she loved. Looking back, everypony he passed on the way here had tendrils going from their bodies. Some connected to a nearby pony while others looked like the bouncer's, going into the sky to find the target of the love.
"Hey Stone," Onyx greeted with a tip of his hat, stopping in front of the bouncer as she stood in front of the door, blocking it.
"Onyx," replied the earth pony mare with a nod as she stepped aside.
Walking through the door, Onyx closed it behind him before looking around. He had entered a small hallway that branched off into several other rooms. The back area of the club consisted of the storeroom, the bar's backroom, the owner's office, and the performer's locker room/ready room.
Walking down the hall a little, Onyx stepped through an open door into the performer's room. The rest of the band was standing in there already, getting their instruments ready. Also in the room were the four prettied up mares who would be shaking their flanks for the crowd while Onyx and them played. He knew that most of the patrons came for the beer and stayed for the mares but he was't about to become a mare just for some bad tasting love.
"Hey Onyx. Cutting it close as usual?" asked one of the dancers as she brought him his trumpet. Taking the instrument in his magical grasp, Onyx smiled at the mare.
"You know me Swing," Onyx replied, seeing the tendril connecting her to him. Again, he could feel it in his system, being broken apart to fuel his body. This love was stronger than Bubble's as it was a lustful desire, the burning passion to be with a pony.
"That I do, sweetheart," she replied with a wink before getting close enough to Onyx that her breath began to warm his ear, "After work, why don't we head back to your place so that we can," a hoof began to travel down Onyx's back, slowly sinking down his side, "remind each other of what we know."
Onyx smiled as the mare waited for his reply. Swing did this at least twice a week, try to seduce him that is. He accepted the offer every so often, seeing it as a free meal. However;
"Can't. My friend is coming over tonight for dinner," he said. It was a part lie as Onyx did expect Bubble to do that but didn't know if she would. Swing backed away from him with a frown,
"That Bubblegum bitch?"
Onyx sighed and nodded, noticing the tendril fade a little. It didn't matter, he was fed enough for today. Before Swing could continue with her insults, the club' show director's shout echoed around the room.
"Get out there ponies! We're gonna open soon!"
Swing gave Onyx a glare before trotting out with her fellow showmares. Onyx wasn't worried as she would be back to the her flirty self after a day or two. With his trumpet still in his grasp, he followed the band out, ready to receive the few, faint tendrils of affection that came with every show before the real drunkards began to show up.
Work for the band ended around three in the morning due to the fact that all eyes were on the showmares anyway. So, a deft switch took place where the band left to be replaced by recorded music. Onyx didn't mind leaving early, nor did he mind the bag of bits now hidden under his fedora. The disguised Changeling, even after three months, didn't know whether to feel joyous or depressd that his earnings could be hidden so readily.
"Hey Onyx!" somepony called as said faux-unicorn was halfway out the door. Turning back, Onyx saw Swing trot towards him. She now wore a coat that covered her scantily dressed body. Onyx couldn't help but think how clothes had become a requirement to ponies. He remembered his brief time in his Hive where no Changeling wore clothes. It wasn't as if the reproductive organs could easily be hidden and he doubted that anypony wanted to hassle with a garment that's pulled up over their hindlegs.
"Swing?" He asked as she caught up to him. They were the only ones in the dress room as the next shift of showmares had left to perform and the finished performers had left for home. A renewed vibrancy of a certain green tendril didn't escape his notice.
"You heading home?" she inquired as we started down the hallway again.
"After I head to Scavenger's Scraps."
"Why would you head there?" she asked, genuinely confused as to why Onyx may visit a store notorious for it's junk. While she asked this, she pulled ahead of Onyx to fit through the door first. Onyx blinked and when his eyes reopened, an extravagent display of color now surrounded and was emitted by the showmare. The Changeling knew that his eyes had lost their disguise but he had time before he was in view of anypony.
While he could, Onyx read the emotions as easily as an adult pony would read a children's book. The faint honey gold of confusion surrounded her, possibly at his choice of store. Purple regret hung close to her body, the reason of which Onyx couldn't deduce. Red anger spiralled into the air, the target of which only she-and perhaps the recepient-knew. The green tendril of love was still present, running to him. Though, now, Onyx could see fainter tendrils dissipating into the air.
He had examined her in a second. After that second, Onyx blinked and the light show was gone; his eyes disguised once more.
"I need a new alarm clock," he answered as he followed her out the door. Nodding to the new bouncer, he began down the alley with Swing beside him.
"What happened to the last one?"
"Broke it," I replied evenly, hoping my curt answers would get her to leave me be.
"How?"
By the hive, he mentally cursed, "Shoved my horn through it to make it shut up."
"Yo-"
"Yes, I know there's an off button."
A 'humph' came from beside him and he noticed that the mare had stopped walking. Onyx closed his eyes and silently prayed to both the Queen and the Sisters that she would turn around and head home. Sadly, none of them seemed to hear him as the showmare came up beside him again.
"What's gotten into you Onyx?"
"Nothing," he replied. He could feel that it wasn't nothing, though. Recently, a certain pink pegasus had been entering his thoughts more frequently. The flood of emotions that came with it confused him even more and, each time, he battled them back.
"I know this is an emotional time," began the voice of his mother, reciting-in his brain-the last words she had said to him. He remembered that trails had been cut through the dust on her face by the tears she shed, "but you must not let your emotions run rampant. Such things are burning beacons to the Plaguers. Be strong Onyx."
Plaguers. Bane of the Changeling Badlands. Wolf-like, they 'smelled' the air for strong, turbulent emotions. When they found a source of such emotions, they honed in on it. Their brown scales and lithe frames allowed the Plaguer's to readily hide in the surrounding terrain, allowing them to ambush unaware prey. Their first attack would be to fire a bio-net from their mutated tails, immobilizing their prey. They would then descend upon the trapped being and bite into their flesh. Changelings had an advantage here as their chitin first had to be pierced, allowing for a couple more seconds to escape. With their teeth inside the prey, they would vampyrcally drain the prey of all emotion, leaving a soulless husk in it's place. As if to add insult to injury, the Plaguers would then eat their prey like normal carnivores. This left only bones and chitin shells to litter the Badlands under degrading bio-nets.
Of course, all Onyx had to worry about here was the ponies around him. Some days he came to the conclusion that he'd rather try his hoof at taming a Plaguer than converse with ponies. At least then he'd know exactly what he was dealing with. Even with the ability to view emotions, ponies still managed to surprise and confuse him.
"Alright. I guess... I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Swing stated sadly before turning and walking away. While Onyx was glad for her departure, he felt a blade of regret tear through him from her tone. Even with the wound, Onyx didn't reply. Instead, he kept walking.
After about a minute, he ended up outside a store that still had it's lights on. Above the door, written with scrap metal and lit by a broad assortment of light fixtures, was the store's name: Scavenger's Scraps. Piled in the windows was a random assortment of items, an indication to the lack of organization that was bound to be inside the store itself. Walking inside, he got the welcome he expected. Sifting through his own pile of rubble-situated in the middle of the store-was Scavenger himself. The brown coat of the stallion hid the filth that Onyx knew was there. The white utility vest did not.
A bell had dinged when Onyx opened the door, causing the stallion to stop digging and look at him. Covering the pony's mouth and nose was what looked to be a red scarf, now covered in filth and frayed at the visible ends. Resting on the earth pony's forehead was a pair of goggles, one lens with a crack along the edge. His cutie mark was a rusted piece of metal with a bent bit next to it.
"Did ya break another one?" he asked bluntly, his voice muffled slightly by the scarf.
"Yeah," Onyx replied as the door swung closed behind him.
"Don't look like you brought the pieces back," he observed as he slid down the rubble to come stand in front of Onyx. The Changeling observed, as he always did, that his disguised self stood three-fourths a head taller than the brown pony.
"I kinda speared it on my horn this time... and then crushed it." The sound of a hoof meeting a face resounded in Onyx's ears. The disguised Changeling tilted his head as he looked at Scavenger in confusion.
"Ow," mumbled the stallion, his hoof muffling the words further. Slowly, Scavenger removed the hoof and set it back onto the ground, "Note to self. Facehoof equals pain."
"I don't think you were supposed to do it at full force," Onyx suggested. This put a thoughtful look on Scavenger's face.
"Maybe," he then shrugged as a clock suddenly came flying over his back. Used to this eccentric behaviour, Onyx saw the clock coming before Scavenger had kicked it up with his hindhoof. Catching it with his magic, Onyx moved it to hover beside him before also using his magic to take his bits from under his hat, count out five bits, and place sad bits into the brown pony's awaiting hoof.
"Thank's Scav," Onyx said with a smile as he replaced the bits and his hat.
"No problem. Just bring the pieces back next time."
"Sure thing," Onyx replied before turning to exit the store, "See ya Scav!"
"See ya tomorrow Onyx!"
Chuckling at the jab, Onyx began to walk down the street, setting his new alarm clock as he did. It took only a couple minutes to get to his apartment building with his newly set alarm clock. Going to the elevators, he pressed the up button and waited. About half a minute later, the elevator arrived and Onyx made way for the small family to get off. Hopping onto the elevator after their departure, he hit the button for his floor and watched the doors close. Onyx stared at the wall onto he arrived at his stop and stepped off the elevator.
Going down the hall, he passed nopony. Reaching his apartment, he pulled his key from his vest, unlocked, opened, and walked through the door, closing it after him. Removing his hat, Onyx floated the bit bag to the coffee table where he opened a secret compartment. Inside were numerous other bit bags and a sheathed blade.
Hanging up his hat and setting his key in the bowl by the door, Onyx floated the clock to his nightstand. A green flame traveled down his frame, seemingly burning away his faux skin but leaving his shirt and vest untouched. Now in his true form, Onyx sat down in the chair by the coffee table and pulled the blade, his first and last gift, out of the compartment. The sheath and straps were black, matching the color of Onyx's chitin. The handle was also black, blending into the sheath. Pulling the blade from the sheath, it was obvious that the black design didn't extend to the blade.
It was a vibrant green, matching the intensity of his left eye. Spectral red lines ran through the blade, giving the impression of veins within the green metal. This was done on purpose as red was the color of anger and seemed fitting to be in a blade. While Onyx knew many Changeling blades had these red lines, it only served to remind him of his differences.
Slamming the blade back into the sheath, he tossed it back into the compartment. Shutting and locking the compartment, Onyx stripped off his clothes. Hanging them up, he sulked into his bedroom and crawled under the covers. Turning off the lights with his magic, now green once more, Onyx allowed himself to slip into the welcomed bliss known as sleep.
